Location: Between the first and second floor of the Eiffel Tower, France

Posts: 2,680

Quote:

Originally Posted by CasiraghiTrio

The only thing slightly whack about the funeral, for me, was the guest list. What was up with inviting the most random celebrities? I can understand the celebrities like Liza Minelli (a very close friend for Diana) but then there was Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman? Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks? I can only ask, Why?

Yes, I agree . The representants of charities would have been enough. It entertain this 'Pop Princess' image taht I dislike and made her more like an almost ordinary celebrity, which she was far from being.

Yes, I agree . The representants of charities would have been enough. It entertain this 'Pop Princess' image taht I dislike and made her more like an almost ordinary celebrity, which she was far from being.

I always understood that the guest list was derived from Diana's address book. This caused some problems as not all her friends were in there and some who were, were not actually her closest friends.

Diana was buried as a Spencer and Earl Spencer stated that, her birth family reclaimed her, there was no question of her being buried at Frogmore

Diana, Princess of Wales' closest family members were Prince William and Prince Harry. I don't recall her styling herself a Spencer again after her divorce. I don't recall her rejecting her title Princess of Wales, and I believe that she probably fought pretty hard to try and keep an HRH.

Earl Spencer did not need to reclaim her. Her sons still claimed her. I do believe that after her divorce the Buckingham Palace said she would still be considered a member of the Royal Family (just not HRH) because of William and Harry.

Frogmore would have been the decision for a place of burial had Earl Spencer been reasonable. I believe, his reputation does not prove him to be reasonable or even nice for that matter. I have not seen any indications of closeness between the Princes and the Spencers - Especially Earl Spencer.

Had Diana been buried at Frogmore she would have much more connection to her sons. She would have been with them instead of being snatched back to Althorp where Earl Spencer can profit from her. Prince William and Prince Harry would not to have to ask Earl Spencer's permission to visit.

And as far as Diana "resting in peace', she would have found far more peace and protection at Frogmore than at Althorp.

If it weren't for Earl Spencer, Diana, PRINCESS OF WALES would have been buried with the Royals. She would have been buried with her SONS' family. She would be in a burial ground controlled by her sons' family. Her grave would be readily accessable to her SONS. They were after all her closest and most loved relatives.
Frogmore would have been a far more respectable and prestigious resting place for a Princess.
I hope one day William will bring her there.

Not all royals are buried at Frogmore. Queen Victoria's youngest daughter Princess Beatrice isn't, she's buried on the Isle of Wight. Various other British royals are buried in assorted church yards around the UK. Included there, are estranged spouses of royals, their spouses were buried at Frogmore they weren't. Princess Alice ( Prince Philip's mother, therefore grandmother of a future king, great-grand-daughter of a Queen ( Victoria), herself born at Windsor Castle died in Buckingham Palace isn't buried at Frogmore. She's in Jerusalem, interred with her aunt Grand-Duchess Elizabeth) It's not an automatic thing, that you're a member of the royal family so you'll be buried at Frogmore. William and Harry and their future families could just as easily choose not to be.

The Queen didn't give the option that Diana could be buried at Frogmore, she originally passed the whole dealing with Diana's funeral arrangements over to the Spencer family. Charles had to insist just so Diana's casket could be kept at the chapel at St James's, it had been scheduled once it arrived in the Uk to be kept in the funeral home. The Spencers would be responsible as to where Diana was buried. Earl Spencer didn't have to insist on anything, the Spencers could have placed her in the family vault but there was the issue that the church was small. Also at the time too with the mass hysteria was the issue of crowds, the worshipper's shrines and not to mention potential desecration and vandalism of Diana's grave. ( Not everyone was a fan)

Earl Spencer came up with a most appropriate solution, Diana would be buried at Althorp on an island where the public had no access, that way her grave would be protected and family members who wished to visit her grave could do it in total privacy without strangers around them. He gets criticised for "profitting from Diana" but Althorp is only open from July 1st to Aug 30th ( this year because of the 10th anniversary of Diana's death, it's open July 2nd to Sept 2nd) each summer, unlike all other stately homes in the UK which are open to the public from April to October. The official site for Althorp has no large pictures or banners of Diana and only one sentence on the site mentioning the display. He makes most of his money from the corporate events he stages and as well as events such as a book festival and the staging of plays. With fewer people interested in Diana the visitor numbers to the Diana exhibition have dropped off, it was never a major moneyspinner ( or attraction) as he had to renovate the stable area to put in the exhibition.

Diana herself identified strongly as a Spencer, once her marriage went sour, she deliberately chose to wear the Spencer Tiara to official events and not the Cambridge lover's knot tiara the Queen gave her. She pointedly wore 'her' tiara, which was somewhat inconvient as everytime she wanted to wear the Spencer tiara it had to be taken out of the bank vault where it was kept and then transported to Kensington Palace.

Ok so she was the mother of a future king, but she was also the divorced wife of a future king, that alone would have her buried somewhere else. If she had remarried she wouldn't even have had the 'princess of wales' part in her name. There were many princesses of wales, it wasn't a title solely identified with Diana, hearing Princess of Wales I tend to picture Queen Alexandra who was probably the most famous of them.

I doubt whether William would ever have her reburied at Frogmore, there would be no point and as I said before, royals are buried at other sites in the UK.

Diana, Princess of Wales' closest family members were Prince William and Prince Harry. I don't recall her styling herself a Spencer again after her divorce. I don't recall her rejecting her title Princess of Wales, and I believe that she probably fought pretty hard to try and keep an HRH.

Actually -- and maybe experts on Diana can back me up, maybe not -- but I recall reading that Diana when traveling privately used the name of Diana Spencer after the divorce. I suppose it was her weak attempt to travel incognito, although I don't see how it was possible, given that followers of her lifestyle well-remembered her as Lady Diana Spencer. Nevertheless, it was always my impression that she never ceased thinking of herself as a Spencer, and that she only continued using the name of Princess of Wales as her surname for the reason that it was how she was most popularly identified, and she wanted to use that towards her charity work. I don't know how she felt about being HRH but I doubt she had any chance of keeping it. How can she have? Given the HRH was hers only by marriage, as the marriage ceased to be, how can it be?

I very much hope we will soon get a final decission into the Diana tradgedy so it can be put to rest once and for all. However, one thing I do find hard to believe is Diana's final resting place which I cannot for one minute believe is on that island at her family home. I am sure she is in the family crypt next to her father and the "Beauty of the island" is all hype created by Earl Spencer for finacial gain.
Who in their right senses could deny Diana a more dignified resting place instead of a waterlogged lonely Island? I for one will not accept that Diana is buried on the Island, and will go with the view of many locals, who on the night of the funeral witnessed a lot of activity around the church and belive that Diana's body is in fact in the family crypt - and where it should be.